Sagitta
by Steve Coe
13.1" f/5.6 unless noted
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NGC 6838 (M 71) This compact
star cluster has been called an open and a globular. It is bright, pretty
large, very rich and much compressed at 135X. At 165X on a good night,
I can see an arrowhead shape to the cluster and count 56 stars across
the mottled face of this cluster. The cluster is easy to pick out of the
Milky Way with the 11 X 80 finder.
I have observed this object in several large scopes and it is always difficult
to determine where the cluster stops and the background stars begin. In
the Lines' 20" f/6 at 150X and in the Lowell Observatory 24"
Clark refractor at 380X this very compact cluster was fascinating. There
are many curving lines of stars with dark lanes between them.
Camp 613 13" 10/10-- seen in 11X80, 100X--bright, pretty large, rich,
very much compressed, somewhat brighter middle, 220X--28 stars counted,
arrowhead shape points east, several close double stars involved, averted
vision really fills in stars. There is a silvery face of unresolved stars
to the cluster that is fascinating. One of the pairs of stars is right
at the middle, it is split but only 20% of the time. In a very rich field
of view, 440X--57 stars counted and the matched double in the middle is
constantly split now. This excellent high power view is all that the 13
inch will show of this object. Great night.
Ultimate Star Party, McDonald Obs. S=6, T=8, 36" f/5--
M 71; 82 stars resolved; arrowhead shape obvious; dark lane comes in from
right side. Several small groupings of stars and lots of stars at the
limit of resolution give a glowing background.
M 71 in 25" with 12mm eyepiece, 68 stars on "left half" of cluster, a blue and gold pair near the center. Lots of dark lanes surround the cluster and on one side the darkness stops the cluster completely.
NGC 6839 13" at 100X it is easy to see, the eye goes right to the compact cluster. 150X is a good view, pretty bright, small, compressed, 11 stars counted of mags 11 and fainter. There is a 9th mag star that is 4 arcmin south. This is certainly not a grand cluster, but one can see why Wm Hershel included it in his listing.
NGC 6879 Pretty bright, very
small, not brighter in the middle. It is just a non-stellar disk at 220X.
Averted vision makes it grow.
Camp 613 13"--330X pretty faint, very small, not brighter middle,
round, just barely larger than Airy disk, has the dull texture of a planetary,
not shiny like a star.
NGC 6886 Pretty bright, very,
very small, little elongated. Just a central star with a tiny, elongated
haze around it at 220X. The grey-green color gave it away.
Camp 613 13" 330X--pretty faint, very small, not brighter in the
middle, round, just barely larger than seeing disk, on east side of isosceles
triangle of stars of equal magnitude.
Sun Valley PKWY 13" 330X--a tiny greenish disk, averted vision makes
a real difference. This little planetary is tough to find in Milky Way
field, but a nice little disk at high magnification on a steady night.
NGC 6892 was listed as a Unknown object. The description is that this is an extremely faint nebulous star. At 220X in the 13" that are 5 stars all faint in an area of about 30 arcsec. Unfortunately, there are three other "clusters" in the field of view of the 8.8mm EP.
IC 4997 Pretty bright, very, very small, somewhat brighter in the middle at 165X. Not much larger than the Airy disk.
Palomar 10 is very faint, pretty small, somewhat brighter in the middle at 100X. No stars were seen with any power up to 320X. It is just a grainy spot at all powers.
Harvard 20 Pretty faint, pretty small, elongated, poor cluster of 15 stars. It is not well detached at 100X.
Sh2-82 Pretty faint, pretty large, round and not brighter in the middle at 100X. It is just barely seen without the UHC filter, the UHC helps quite a bit. There are two stars involved.
Sh2-84 Pretty faint, pretty
large, much elongated at 135X with the UHC filter. The south side of the
nebula is brighter and several stars are involved. It looks somewhat like
a small version of the
California Nebula.
Double Stars
Theta SGE Split at 100X, white and grey.
Epsilon SGE Wide pair at 100X, light yellow and light blue.
Zeta SGE Split at 100X, white and light yellow.
HN 84 This wide pair is at the tail feathers of the Arrow. At 100X, they form a lovely blue and gold pair.
Red Stars
BF SGE Light orange, not much
X SGE Medium orange in a gorgeous field of view.